Kalinara was talking about this the other day--so when exactly did comics stop having those useful "footnotes" every so often to reference when a book refers to something that happened in another book?
For example, say you're reading The Avengers back in the day, Dr. Doom appears wearing a pink cape (which he wasn't the last time he appeared in The Avengers), and there's a little note at the bottom of the panel saying that "The Invisible Girl secretly threw a red sock into Dr. Doom's wash in Fantastic Four 62." (Hm. You know, that's an intentionally humorous fake example, but it's also pretty much the way Sue was used back then. :))
This was particularly helpful because--being a fan of comic laundry mishaps--you could then go to the store and pick up Fantastic Four 78.
Similarly, there were often footnoted reminders of things that happened in past issues. It was nice because the reference was made right where you needed it.
I'm also thinking of this because the husband was trying to catch up on unread comics last weekend and he asked about it--why there were no longer these handy little notes to help the occasional reader along? It'd be particularly nice with things like Civil War, where it can be really hard to tell which comics happen in which order.
I told him what I've read--that the splash page recap is supposed to take care of that. It really doesn't, though--particularly, it doesn't help catch you up on what has happened in other books that you really want to know.
Seems unlike the comic companies to stop doing something that could potentially sell more comics.
1 comment:
I think more than anything, I miss (although am occasionally pleased to fine) the little note on page one that says something like, "STOP! If you haven't read Captain American #376 yet, don't read a single page more!"
I'm fairly certain it's a Joe Quesada initiative over at Marvel, not sure about the Distinguished Competition, however.
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